THE UNIVERSITY of St Andrews has accused former First Minister Alex Salmond of being "out of touch" after he said it was failing to fulfil its duty to the population as a whole by educating people from across the social spectrum.
The SNP MP, who was a student at St Andrews where he studied Economics and Medieval History, spoke out to millions watching a discussion on BBC's Question Time over whether there should be quotas in elite universities such as Oxford and Cambridge for students from diverse backgrounds.
He reacted to comments from the son of a former admissions tutor of St Peter's College, Oxford who said the bane of his father's life was quotas for ethnic minority students.
He said: "He frequently told me he had to choose less academically able students because of the places and backgrounds they came from. At the end of the day Oxford and Cambridge as centres of academic excellence and that should be championed."
Mr Salmond responded with a case study featuring the University of Glasgow and the University of St Andrews.
"I have interest in both. I am a doctor of the University of Glasgow, I was a student at St Andrews," he said.
"They are both highly rated internationally orientated universities but Glasgow has a huge social mix in its student population, St Andrews doesn't.
"The idea you maintain excellence by having a fairly exclusive social mix is entirely wrong headed, it's entirely mistaken.
"These are two examples of two outstanding universities, but one of which I think fulfils its duty to the population as a whole by educating people across the social spectrum and the other I am afraid, does not."
The university hit back saying that Salmond was "out of touch with present day St Andrews".
A university spokesman said: “We were glad to see that in the true style of a good St Andrews debater Mr Salmond was able to give the impression he actually knew what he was talking about, even if it was mostly blethers.
"The student body has never been more socially and internationally diverse, we’ve made big progress in recent years and are one of the few Scottish universities to be ahead of the curve in meeting the SNP Government’s ambitious targets on widening access to our universities. Over a third of all the Scots who started here this year came from an access background.
“We lower our entry requirements for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, use tailored support programmes and first-year mentoring schemes and offer a very broad range of bursary and scholarship assistance."
The admissions policy of the University of St Andrews says it is in place to ensure fairness "for all applicants, regardless of background".
It's policy states: "The University is committed to reducing barriers to entry for students with the potential to succeed at St Andrews. We will allow all students to demonstrate their potential, regardless of social or economic background, whether this is related to their place of education, family background, or residence. We do this using relevant pre-entry information, clear entrance requirements and robust assessment methods, appropriate to each application cohort."
The university spokesman added: “Alex doesn’t have to take our word for it though, we hope he’ll come back to find out for himself.”
Mr Salmond's comments came a matter of weeks after the SNP's higher education minister Shirley-Anne Somerville accused some universities of dragging their feet over demands to admit more poor students.
Speaking at a fringe event at the SNP conference, Ms Somerville said that despite a high-profile drive to increase social diversity at campuses and the imposition of tough new targets, progress was sporadic and not systemic. She openly questioned whether some universities were “living up to the challenge” set by government.
Although she did not mention any university by name, the comments were interpreted as a thinly-veiled warning to some of Scotland’s elite institutions - particularly Aberdeen, Edinburgh and St Andrews.
On Wednesday a major think-tank report said that giving pupils from poorer backgrounds a “two-grade break” could lead to 50 per cent more pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds being admitted to top universities.
The Sutton Trust’s research examined the background of pupils from such backgrounds at 30 of the most selective universities in the UK, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and Strathclyde.
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